1) Provide people who were not happy with their purchase a clear option, instead of being a negative influence to potential people that may like it. Saying things like "I wasted $60 on a game that ended up not playing." With a refund they are more likely to say "It was O.K., just not for me... and they were kind enough to stand behind their product and give me a refund.

2) To help minimize the ticket response time spent by ANet on refunds... allowing them to perhaps spemd that time on customers who are liking the game but having issues.

The alarming number of people who seem dead set against refunds is perhaps part of why America's level of quality products have dropped well below that of our world's competitors.

I once took my family and in-laws to a great rib place. I had baosted how great this place was, adn when we were served the ribs were so tough you could barely gnaw the meat off the bone. (Usually was so tender the bone slid out)

I called the manager over and explained the problem and he immediately took away the plates and brought us a new set in 20 minutes. And they were amazing like usual.

When he brought the ticket he comp'ed the entire dinner and I told him I wasn't looking for that... I was MORE than happy to pay because he made it right... and he told me:

"Sir, I can't tell you how appreciative I am that you brought this to my attention. So many people would have just kept quiet, left and perhaps never came again.. certainly no longer recommend our restaurant. We are proud of our food and service, and because you were polite enough to inform me AND wait another 20 minutes for us to get it right... it is my pleasure to take care of your bill. Please come back soon."

Before you guys get any wrong ideas based on the topic name, NO. I did not come here to rant about lack of content, feeling bored or anything of that sort.

I just want to give a tip to those out there who still haven't reached lvl 80 - do not rush it. Why? Because it doesn't matter! Level 80 content is no different from the lvl 40 content when you look at it from a gameplay standpoint. You'll understand what I mean in a while.

I was not rushing lvl 80, hence reaching it fairly recently but still, I was going through areas with level progression in mind. Don't. Level 80 - it doesn't feel any different from 79, 60 or even 40. Yeah, you get your traits unlocked, your damage goes up (so does monsters' HP) and can start to work on getting Exotics and Legendaries and you get a slight advantage in WvWvW due to having a better equip. But honestly, is it worth it? You got your dungeons at 40 as well (one dungeon, technically speaking), you can still get the best armor and weapon in your current lvl category. Try to enjoy the game, rather than being focused on your lvl. Leveling here is super-fast compared to other MMOs, why try to make it even faster?

As far as crafting goes - from the tactical point of view you would want to lvl it before reaching 80 to get the levels. I say save it until after. You will get the materials by gathering / killing monsters anyway and you won't get behind with your gear. Personally, I skipped the whole 70-80 thing by maxing out my Tailoring and getting rather close to 400 with Artificer. It felt good at first but now that I look back, I'd rather go through the zones doing and exploring stuff rather than just pop the levels right on. Of course I can still do that and I probably will but it just won't feel as good as it would've if I was in the zone at the appropriate level, even if I get down-lvl'd.

There are hours and hours of exploration and stuff ahead of me but I guess I'll make a new character and take it slow, enjoy vistas, have fun and enjoy myself as much as possible, rather than rushing anything.

Fact: You will have to settle for sub-optimal gear and grind for weeks/months to get the best gear and hit the power plateau. Yes, sadly ArenaNet lied to us. It was all pipe-dreams.

Look, I love the game... I wont stop playing the game. This is seriously the best MMO I've ever played in my life so I'm not bashing the game. But the reality is this... we were lied to, and people who haven't gotten to 80 yet needs to know what they should come to expect when they hit level 80.

There is a very real grind at max level to get to the power plateau. Prepare yourself from now. Don't hit level 80 and then get frustrated about it.

Thanks.

This isn't "grind". That term is so disgustingly overused it's just tossed in with anything now. Did you expect to hit 80 and have the best gear already given to you just like Guild Wars 1 where you can hit max level in a day (after Factions of course). The only grind I've seen is dungeon tokens to get gear pieces. If you're saying getting to level 80 is a grind, then I'd kindly like you to play EQ or Maple Story. Leveling in this game is NOT grind. The "power plateau" is just fine, heavens forbid that you might actually have to spend some time playing a game to get the best stuff. They didn't give the impression that you'd hit the power plateau immediately, they said that it's not going to be limited to one form of content to gain the best gear.

They understand people get annoyed grinding the same dungeon over and over, which is why theres overly difficult explorable mode. If you like to grind tokens, though, then theres that option for you. If you like crafting more, then you can get gear from that. If you're more into the lore, or exploring, you can get gear from that. You're not trapped into 1 form of content to get gear, which is why it isn't classified as a grind.

ppl need to learn how to position the illusion. it's VERY important how position them and how move yourself after the positioning. if you move in the right way you can take the aggro on you and the illusion stay alive longer.

They are a way to make people stay in a given place long enough for a Dynamic Event to appear, so players who don't understand what DEs are actually get to play in them. In this, they're basically a big "come here, there's a cool event nearby!" sign. Developers have said as much.

What amazes me is how people have not understood that, as such, the best way to fill a heart is by doing events in the area. Do you think the heart to feed cows and kill bandits and interact with plants is too much of a shore, since it fills so slowly? When the Dynamic Event in the area triggers and you have to defend the farm from bandits, doing it will fill the heart for you. The same applies to all other hearts I have seen so far - even if the minor shores of the heart are annoying, it doesn't really matter, since the Dynamic Event which will soon appear near the heart will make you fill it anyway.

Nope. In two years, people will forget this even existed. There will always be something new to talk about. When the next expansion comes out, people will be saying that GW2 is a godsend and the expansion ruined it. Same with the following expansion. "GW2 and its first expansion were godsends! They should have left it there!"

People complain about nothing. And honestly, if this is the biggest complaint you have in your life, I'll trade lives with you right now. If your biggest complaint is "My fully functional game isn't what I thought it was", then please swap me.

So far I wish that we had access to more skills, in particular the utility skills. You have 5 weapon skill slots, and 5 utility skill slots, but 2 of those are always going to be used up by a heal skill and your elite; leaving you with only three slots to work with. This is a problem to me because there are a fairly large amount of utility skills, and in pvp you'll more than likely have to take at least 1 stun breaker, lowering your choices down to TWO. Take Necromancer for example, things like Corrupt Boon and Epidemic are so good, and such a powerful niche for the class given how much hinges on boons and conditions in this game, that they seem almost like a given. Throw in Spectral Armor, and all of your choices are already made for you. Granted, this is just speculation and theorycraft as I've never played a Necro. Three skill slots just seems to be too few, it should be 5, on top of 1 slot for a heal and 1 elite skill slot.